Posted on 10/24/2006 5:56:23 PM PDT by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2006 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today expressed confidence that the American people will unite to defeat the terrorist threat once they see it for what it is.
At a Pentagon news conference, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said he is not “discouraged or disappointed” with the situation in Iraq and that the United States faces a long fight against an enemy that wants to destroy the American way of life.
The terrorist enemy has a 100-year plan, the chairman noted. “They've told us they want to go and establish a caliphate from Spain to Indonesia, and from there they want to attack the rest of the free world,” Pace said.
He said the terrorists have been at war with the United States since the late 1970s. Americans didn’t realize this until Sept. 11, 2001. “We're in this war primarily right now in Iraq and in Afghanistan, but when we are complete and successful in assisting the Iraqi government and in assisting the Afghan government, we are still … going to face decades of individuals and cells and groups that want to destroy our way of life,” he said.
The United States can handle this, the chairman said. “We as a nation have capacity to do whatever we need to do for the long haul to protect our children and our grandchildren. We've proved it against the Soviet Union,” he said.
Once Americans understood the nature of the Soviet threat, they worked together to provide the right resources and the determination to protect the country, Pace said, adding that it didn’t matter what party was in the White House.
He said the same will happen once Americans understand the nature of the enemy confronting the nation today. “I have great faith in the balance of the American people, and I take great comfort in knowing that as we are able to articulate what this threat is really about, that the American people will continue to stand side by side and behind us, and that we will be given the resources … to fight this war,” the chairman said.
“I am not looking forward to decades of having to be vigilant,” he said, “but I am looking forward to my grandkids living in the same United States that I grew up in.”
General, ... only if you can tear them away from their TV Faux-Reality Shows for 5 minutes of undivided Paris Island MCRD Motivation Platoon Counseling time.
Long on talk, but what's the action plan? Erase all muzzie thought from the face of the earth? That's a pretty all order. Constant vigilance from here to eternity? That's a pretty daunting order and not very appealing. I'm really tired of taking my shoes off to get on an airplane and not being able to take drinks into a football game. Win "hearts & minds" of a 7th century people that values death over life? Not likely.
So what's the solution?
And if we did not have a anti-american MSM, the people would have grasped this long ago. It's sickening to me.
Sadly, most Americans are not going to wake up until nuclear bombs detonate simultaneously in half a dozen major cities. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I wonder. Of course, the surviving moonbats will claim Bush is responsible.
The United States can handle this, the chairman said. “We as a nation have capacity to do whatever we need to do for the long haul to protect our children and our grandchildren. We've proved it against the Soviet Union,” he said.
Once Americans understood the nature of the Soviet threat, they worked together to provide the right resources and the determination to protect the country, Pace said, adding that it didn’t matter what party was in the White House.
Rumsfeld on the Record
A wide-ranging discussion with the SecDef.
By Jay Nordlinger
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZGM2MWUzY2MyMGRiMWI5MzFkOGQ0ZTFjMDI1Yjg1ZDU=
(snip)
THE COLD WAR AND THE TERROR WAR
I remind Rumsfeld that, when we last talked — three years ago — I asked him whether the American people would stick with the War on Terror. And he replied, on that occasion, “They stuck with the Cold War.”
“Yeah,” Rumsfeld says now. “Long time. Lot of wavering. A lot of cold feet at the various points along the way. I remember being in Spain and getting a phone call saying I had to come back to testify against the Mansfield Amendment,” which proposed to pull U.S. troops out of Europe. “I was ambassador to NATO at the time — early ’70s. And here you are: The Cold War’s in full flower, and the Soviet Union’s making mischief in Central America and Africa and subjugating Eastern Europe . . .” Yet the proposal was made all the same.
Plus, says Rumsfeld, “Eurocommunism was in vogue.” For example, “the Italians constantly were wondering about putting Communists in their coalition and changing their governments about every 15 minutes.”
So, continues the SecDef, “you look back on it now and say, ‘Oh, my goodness, it was a good, straight, upward path. We all knew all along the Cold War would last a long time. We knew all along it would be tough, but we never wavered and never doubted.’ And we did waver and doubt, and there were plenty of people who got cold feet as they went along.”
Victory, says Rumsfeld, “didn’t just happen.” And “I don’t take it for granted.”
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